The men were stationed not more than twenty feet apart, and, as nearly as he could judge, had been ordered to remain and prevent the fugitives from leaving the country by way of the coast. From what he already knew concerning the people, he understood the number of men on duty at this particular point had been largely increased, therefore the natural inference was that there were two distinct bodies engaged in trying to capture the white men. One whose duty it was to guard the boarder so thoroughly that it would be impossible to escape, while the other scoured the forest and swamp.
"We must stay here several days," he said in conclusion. "After a time the men will grow careless, and then we may be able to make our way through the lines; but now it is impossible."
Until this moment Neal and Teddy had hoped there might yet be a chance for them to reach Progresso in time to take passage on the steamer as first agreed upon; but now they were in despair. Poyor spoke so positively that there could be no doubt the journey to the coast would be a long one, in case they ever succeeded in making it, and the thoughts of the loved ones at home who were probably mourning them as dead caused them to be more gloomy than on the night of the flight, when it did not seem possible any of the party would escape alive.
Cummings, who had no care as to when he reached the coast, and Jake, to whom time was no particular object, received the news calmly. A week more or less made but little difference to them, and after a short pause Cummings said:
"If you will stay on guard, Jake, I'll find out if it is possible to catch any fish. The food supply is an important matter which should be settled at once, for we must not depend upon what can be gotten in the forest, since no one can say how soon we may be besieged."
Poyor lay down to sleep as if perfectly indifferent to the experiment, and the boys followed Cummings. To watch him fish was better than remaining quiet thinking over their troubles.
The reflection of the sun from the outside had so far dispelled the gloom that it was possible to distinguish surrounding objects with reasonable distinctness, and Cummings stood by the bank of the stream as he tied one end of Teddy's line to the pole Poyor had used for drinking purposes, while, with the last remaining fragments of roasted toh, began the work.
In the most perfect silence the boys watched him for ten minutes, and Teddy said:
"I guess you'll have to give it up as a bad job. There's nothing but alligators in the stream, and what they most want is another chance to get hold of Neal's trousers."
"It was lucky for me that they didn't get hold of my ankle as well. I don't understand how I escaped so easily, for——"